This invention relates to alkyl glycoside blends with alcohol ethoxylates and their use in the emulsion polymerization of unsaturated monomers.
There is a significant market for nonionic surfactants for emulsion polymerization (100 mm #/yr.). Their primary advantage over anionic surfactants is decreased water sensitivity in applications such as paint. Most of the DISPONILS (TM Henkel Corp., Ambler, Pa.), which are ethoxylated fatty alcohols, are solids in a significantly large temperature regime, making them difficult to use and limiting their active concentration range. The alkyl phenol ethoxylates (APEs) nonionic surfactants have come under environmental agency scrutiny as materials that induce physical and genetic defects in wildlife and as environmental estrogens. There is a growing trend to move away from APEs. However, since no government regulations are in place banning APEs, latex manufacturers require a cost effective nonionic to induce the environmentally desirable activity of switching away from the APEs.
Accordingly, in view of the many requirements which polymer dispersions now have to satisfy, there is a continuing need for new polymerization emulsifiers. In this connection, the emulsifier used in the emulsion polymerization process has a crucial effect not only on the beginning and the subsequent course of the polymerization reaction, but also on the mechanical and chemical stability of the finished polymer emulsions (dispersions) and of the final product. Thus, such properties of the emulsion and of the formulated product as, for example, frost stability and stability in storage depend crucially on the emulsifier.